Tax-sales register



Patented Nov. 6, 1923.

UNITED STATES 1,472,900 PATENT OFFICE.

HONTRAVILLE H. BOWDLE, F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 FRED M. IAVIS,

OF CHICAGO. ILLINOIS.

TAX- SALES REGISTER.

To all whom, t may concern.'

Be it known that I, MoN'rRAvILLa I-I. Bownnn, a citizen of the UnitedStates of America, and a resident of Chicage, county I of Cook, andState of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Im rovement inTax-Sales Registers, of which t e following is a specification.

This invention relates to sales registers and the like, and the mainobjects of the invention are to rovide an improved form of such a devicea a ted to register and keep account of sales an especially tofacilitate sales tax accounting; rto provide a. combill nation ofcounters and registering means adapted for ready ins ction from time totime and adapted to fu ly apprise a customer or the public of the dataregistered; to pro- Y vide in such a device a prominently visible l0indicator and an audible signal or sounder to operate synchronously witheach registration; and to provide for complete 'functioning forsuccessive like numerical transactions as well as those which aredifferent.

Il An illustrative embodiment of this invention is shown in theaccompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a plan of the device.

Fi 2 is a vertical longitudinal section on l0 the 11ne 2--2 of Figures 1and 3. y

' Fig. 3 is a transverse section on the line 3 3 of Figures 1 and 2.

Fig. 4 is a transverse section on the line 4 4 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of In the construction shown in thedrawings,

the device as a whole comprises mainly a housing in the form ofl awooden box 1 havin a removable top or cover plate 2, a plura ity ofcounters 3 (for which purpose the commercially well known Veedercounters may be used) mounted on the wall within said box adjacent tothe under side of said plate, corresponding manually operated plungers4, a vertically positioned designation plate 5 mounted on and above thecover 2, and a series of vertically movable shutters 6 operated by andin front of said plungers respectively, a bell 7, and certaincomplementary mechanisms to be described.

The counters 3, preferably five in number, are individually mounted on acommon support in the form of a bracket 8 secured to S5 the inner sideof the front wall of the box,

near the top. Each lunger 4 is provided with a rigid apertures arm 9 ofbifurcated form to receive the rocker arm 10 which is fixed on therock-shaft 11 of the counter. Every downward movement of a plunger 4operates the corresponding counter one point, as will be understood.Each plunger 4 is provided With a restoring spring 12 arranged to reactbetween the top edge of wall 13 of guide socket 14 and the sleeve 15which is fixed on a medial part of the plunger rod as by means of ascrew or pin 16.

In order that each operation of a plunger 4 may be registered visually,connecting means are provided for depressing the corresponding shutter 6thereby displacing a number on the designation plate 5 correspondingwith the plunger operated as illustrated in Figure 2. For this purposeeach shutter 6 is mounted on the upper end 75 of a vertically movableplunger 17 disposed adjacent to and parallel with the correspondingplunger 4. The sleeve 15 of plunger 4 is provided with a'horizontal arm18 which is bifurcated -to receive plunger 17 between its arms. Saidarms are connected by a pin 19 which is movable vertically in the slot20 of plunger 17. The slot 20 is so positioned that when plunger 4 isdepressed, pin 19 seats against the bottom of slot 20 and depressesplunger 17 and the shutter 6 carried thereby.

In order that the registration may remain visible after the plunger4 isreleased, a latchplate 21 is arranged to engage the shoulder 22 of arm17 adJacent to the lower end of plunger 17 and thereby hold said plungerdown against the expansive force of its compreion spring 23. At the sametime the slot 20 permits pin 19 and its supporting member. to riseindependently of plunger 17. In order that latch 21 may coact properlywith the shoulder 22 said members are mutually beveled as at 24 and 25respectivel so that downward movement of plunger 1 100 pushes latch 21laterally suiicient to let shoulder 22 pass. Then when plunger 17 is inits lowermost position the latch springs 26 snap the latch back intoplace to engage said shoulder 22 and lock plunger 17 down. 105

In order to attract the attention of the purchaser or the publicgenerally, whenever a sale is made and the register is used, a hammer 27carried by a s ring arm 28 secured to latch 21 is arrange to 'strikeagainst 110 the gongor bell 7 when said latch springs into .engagementwith shoulder 22.

In order that the device may function normally andes cially thatthe'bell may be sounded when t e same plunger 4 is operated twice insuccession, the arm 18 is ro- .vided with a supplemental arm or shou dermember 29 which is normall disposed beside and parallel with shouldhrmember 22 but is pivoted at 30 to arm 18 in such manner that after beingforced down and thereby caused to swing latch 21 and ring bell 7, it mayswing downward against the tension of its spring 31 and sli upward pastthe latch shoulder when urge upward by plung- -er 4 as the latterrestores toits normal'position. The pivoted arm 29 is prevented fromswinging upward beyond its horizontal position by means of anover-reaching shoulder 32 on the arm 18.

The latch plate 21 is provided with a hinge-like support 33 at each end,and the forward movement of its upper edge, under the stress of spring26, is limited bya pair of stop shoulders 34 at the ends respectively.

Referring to Figure 1, the keys or plungers et are numbered 1 to 5respectively, provided that these numbers represent values convenient toexpress the number to be registered, it being understood that othernumbers, as for instance 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 might be used. Thesame-is true of the numbers on the designation plate 5.

The operation of the device is normally as follows: case sales taxes areto be registered, as for instance 'in a drug store where the items areof small value, the rst button may represent a 'sales tax of one cent,the' next two cents, and so on. If then the tar is two cents, the No. 2button will be depressed. 'lhis will swing the counter arm 10 downwardand thereby register one more on the counter. At the same time the 18will carry the plunger 17 downward and cause its shoulder arm 29 to pushback the latch 21 against. its spmng 26. When plunger 17 is fullydepressed its shutter 6 will uncover the corresponding number on theplate 5, and the shoulder member 22 will release and pass under theshoulder of latch 21 `which will then be sprung forward to lock plunger17 down, where it will be retained until another button is depressed.When another button, as for instance No. 3, is depressed 'the beveledface on the arm 22 of its corresponding plunger will retract the latch21 and thereby release the shutter plunger corresponding with button No.2, but the arm 22 of the shutter plunger corresponding with button No. 3will then be held in its depressed position until some other button isdepressed.

In case the same button, as for instance w No. 2, is pressed a secondtime without the operation of any other button intervening the pivotedarm 29 by reason of its beveled face 35 will coact with face 24 of latch21 and thereby swing back latch 21 which will then lspring forward and aain lock the the bell 7.`

Although but one specific embodiment of this invention has been hereinshown and described it will be understood that numerous details of theconstruction shown ma lbe alteredor omitted without depirting thespiritfof this invention as defined' by the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a device of a support and a pair of self-restoring plungersmounted thereon in arallel relation, one of said plungers having amanual push member, and connections for said plungers being provided,including a limited movement sliding guide and stop-shoulder mechanismand an automatic latch for the other plunger to hold it inl effectiveposition. v

2. In a device of the character described, a key plunger, a registeringplunger, restoring means therefor respectively, a latch for `the llatterplunger, and operating connec- 4L. In a register of the characterdescribed,

a series of self-restoring spring actuated plungers each having ashoulder, in combination with a common latch plate having shoulderscorresponding with the plunger shoulders respectively to coact therewithfor retaining any plunger in its actuated position, said shouldershaving mutually beveled relation to permit engagement and to effectinterchangeable release successively, in use, said latch having asounder attachment and said plungers each having a relatively movableactuating key member respectively, each provided with asupphementallatch tiltin shoulder to insure operation of the soun er when the sameplunger is operated in immediate succession.

5. In a registerof the character described, a key plunger and aregistering plunger disposed side by side, both being operativelyconnected and spring restoring, t e former `same plunger down andincidentally ring' 10 the character described,

having an arm fixed thereon and arranged to carry the other plunger withit in a positive direction but being slidable thereon in the reverse ornegative direction when the 5 latter is held in its advanced position, alatch f to engage and retain said registering 1 plunger in its advancedposition, and a tilting arm having a spring return, which arm isconnected to the fixed arm for releasing said latch upon depressing thecorrespond- 10 ing key when the said registering plunger is held by saidlatch.

Signed at Chicago this 4th day of Feb. 922.

MON TRAVILLE H. BOWDLE.

